13 Mar “I was a problem child”
Francine grew up in a happy home with her mother and stepfather, but she wasn’t at peace. “I wanted my mother to be with my biological father. He was a heroin user but, as a kid, I didn’t understand,” she says. “I was a problem child.”
When Francine was 18, she started drinking and, a few years later, began using cocaine. “Eventually, I couldn’t keep a job, because of the drugs and alcohol,” she says.
She was about to be evicted from her apartment when her 17-year-old nephew was killed in a car accident. “I had a Christian foundation from going to church with my Grandma. I knew the only way I’d see my nephew again was in heaven and that meant I had to straighten up,” she says. “God got my attention.”
Francine called 211 and was referred to Wheeler Mission, where she completed our Higher Ground Addiction Recovery Program. Then she came to work here, but after 10 years on our staff, she relapsed and resigned.
Years later, she returned to the Mission and re-entered the program with different intentions. “This time, I battled the bitterness that I had about my dad,” she says. She grew stronger in her walk with the Lord. “I was lukewarm before,” she says.
Francine graduated and saved enough money to get her own place through her work as a home health aide. “Working with elderly people is my passion,” she says.
Francine credits the Lord and the Mission with her new life. “I thank God that He loved me enough not to let me die in my sins and I’m so thankful to Wheeler Mission for giving me another chance.”
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